Mastermind of Shia massacres in Chilas and Kohistan arrested

The alleged mastermind and five others wanted in the massacres of Shia Muslims in Kohistan and Chilas are reported to be arrested by law enforcement agencies on Monday, 16 April 2012, official sources in the Gilgit-Baltistan Police told The Express Tribune. Over 450 personnel of law enforcement agencies –army, Northern Scouts, Gilgit Scouts, Rangers and FC led by major and captain level officers equipped with mortar guns and sophisticated weapons had besieged the madrassah run by the main accused, Qari Muzamil Shah (of Sipah-e-Sahaba ASWJ), in Chilas and warned that if he did not surrender his madrassah will be bombed. The local jirga intervened and persuaded the wanted cleric to surrender. His other accomplices arrested were identified as Sher Ghazi, son of Rustam Khan, Shamsul Haq, son of Shah Alam, Nisar, son of Munawar, the official requesting anonymity said.

The group, formed after the killing of a Deobandi activist of Sipah-e-Sahaba (a lawyer from Chilas) in Gilgit, got training from Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), led by Moulvi Asmatullah Moavia, in South Waziristan and Balochistan-based Jundullah group (an alias of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat ASWJ, also known as Sipah-e-Sahaba). The group in army fatigue on February 28 shot dead 16 passengers hauling them off buses in Kohistan district. Fifteen out of the 16 passengers killed were Shias.

The main accused, identified as Muzamil Shah, son of Abeel Khan, is a resident of Chilas and local chief of the banned anti-Shia sectarian organisation, Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) which was renamed as Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), collected hundreds of thousands of rupees as donations at a rally in Chilas in February for organising his group, sources in the security agencies said.

He was identified when he himself led the assailants in a jeep, stopped buses and shot dead six passengers.
DIG Ali Sher told The Express Tribune by telephone from Chilas that the number of accused nominated in the killing was 11 and said that the Jirga will hand over the remaining six also as investigations continue.

Another senior official in the home department told The Express Tribune that they were encouraging citizens to inform authorities about people possessing illegal arms and ammunition. “The names of such people will be kept secret,” he said. (Source)